Here is the thing about the botnets that they are the networks of compromised computers controlled by the remote attackers. They can attack in such a way that the owners are unknown about it. As per my knowledge the computers in a botnet is home computers, your laptops and are technically known as nodes, bots, zombies. Moreover, the computers in this network are unknown about the misuse of their computers.
I just read an article and it says when the computer is infected by the malware, it is used to send the spam and more shocking thing is that user is unaware about it. Often this threat is harmful to the government and enterprises rather than the individual, that can be used for a direct attack.
One of the approach is done by the Project MARS which is known as Microsoft Active Response for Security that makes the legal and technical acumen to take action upon the criminal infrastructure. This project is a joint effort of Microsoft Digital Crimes unit, Microsoft Malware Protection Center, Customer Support Services and Trustworthy Computing.
Via Botnets published by Microsoft